Ordering your FUNcube Dongle Pro+

The price of the new FUNcube Dongle Pro+ is GBP124.99 (plus 20% VAT if you are in the European Union). A summary of fully tracked Fedex International Priority shipping rates and times are presented below, with a full list of rates at the end of this post. In the UK, we use Royal Mail Special Delivery.

As a rule-of-thumb, my cut-off time for same-day dispatch is 11am UK local time, although often it’s somewhat later.

UK

£6.22

US & Canada

£9.42

Western Europe

£11.00

Eastern Europe

£14.00

Australia

£17.39

Japan

£17.39

Europe

1 – 2 days

USA

1 – 2 days

Canada

1 – 2 days

Latin America

2 – 3 days

Asia

3 days

Middle East – India

3 days

Africa – Oceania

3 – 5 days

Please register your interest here. If we’re out of stock, it will add you to a wait list that we’ll be going through in order as the devices arrive from the manufacturer and I’ve done the final testing prior to despatch.

Please note that frustratingly the waiting list software doesn’t supply a positive confirmation that your details have been successfully keyed. When I look at the database I do a de-dupe because understandably a lot of people key their details in twice. What I would ask is that you take care to enter your email address correctly: there are definitely a few bad email addresses in there I’m afraid which can be difficult if not impossible to follow up on.

We do not presently have enough stock to satisfy the demand, therefore you can register your interest on the waiting list. There are over 2,000 people on the waiting list and I am up to about 1,650 on that list. You can add your interest by reading the notes on the original post at the top of the page and pressing on the link to register interest. You are invited to order once your turn comes.

I am not sure that I understand your comment about “real stock” or “real transactional website”? Stock is tested and dispatched within hours of it arriving from our assemblers. The ordering system is hosted by the 3DCart eCommerce system.

I am not sure if you have any experience in manufacturing, but there is no magic button to press, and then items suddenly arrive: there is a lot more to it than that, and we are doing our utmost to fulfill the waiting list.

If you’re not already on the waiting list, add yourself here. When we reach you in the list with stock ready to dispatch, we’ll send you an email to request payment. On the FUNcube Dongle website we don’t take payment details until we have items ready for dispatch.

You must be flat out in production but is there a small chance you can indicate some kind of lead-time to any chance of purchasing an FCDpro+ and receiving in time for Christmas Hols as it will serve as a brilliant present. I already have a FCDpro doing sterling service. Thanks, Pete (in New Zealand).

Hi Howard,
A very big “Thank You” for your time and effort in resolving the problem with ordering using Windows XP and explorer.
I checked in yesterday afternoon ( Friday 2nd November ) and everything worked
OK and my order was accepted.
You also demonstrated that not only is your technical support of a high standard,but
also your customer support behind the management of your service.
Having placed the order – I received the “Funcube Dongle Pro+ ” today ( Saturday )
That was in less that 24 Hrs from completion and confirmation of my order.
Wonderful – I thank you and your team and wish you l;ots of “Good Luck”
Best regards
Ken Eaton
GW1FKY

Hello Howard
Is it possible to get a FCD (one of the 50%) going down to 400 MHz to receive weather balloons between 403-408 MHz? I sent you an e-mail but no answer (maybe I had a wrong address)
kind regards
Gerald, OE2IGL

Although I do test for this on every device as part of the burnt-in testing procedure in the firmware, I don’t currently segregate out those units that pass or fail this test. I should also note that the even if they do pass, this cannot be guaranteed under all circumstances I’m afraid, particularly over temperature. Also note that we have and a new batch of chips in and these have not been characterised yet for operation outside the guaranteed range.

Would this unit be suitable for monitoring RF useage in our area. I work for a Live theatre company and we often have problems with interference from outside sources etc or may intermod form our selected range of rf. Shure make the axiom system now to do all that RF monitoring etc but it’s prohibitly expensive considering we just upgraded $30,000 on new gear months before it got released.

There are people in Australia using winradio for doing this job but if yours could do it even better for the prive.

The FCD and FCD+ can do monitoring, it largely depends on the nature of the signals you’re trying to monitor and over what frequency range you want to monitor.

If you know the channels you’re interested in and they are narrow band (less than about 180kHz or so of channel bandwidth), then you can certainly check for channel occupancy with the FCD+. It’s been nearly 30 years since I did any live theatre stuff so I am sure things have changed, back then it was simple VHF FM, I am sure it’s probably gone digital now, and most likely up in frequency. I’m fairly sure that the FCD+ would cover the frequencies used if I understand correctly, but I am not sure of the current modulation standards used.

Yes, this is because (a) many people have entered their details multiple times because the software isn’t good at giving feedback and (b) while we still have a backlog, we’re trying to restrict people mass purchasing and re-selling on ebay at inflated prices.

There is no functionality to control an LNB directly from the FCD or FCD+ although it does have a bias T, but that’s limited to 5v at about 50mA or so.

Keep in minde that the FCD/FCD+ are designed to receive narrow band signals, so it might not be appropriate depnding on what you’re trying to analyse.

There have been one or two programs about that have allowed a basic scanning facility for the original FCD but I’ve never used them myself. Certainly I think it’s an area that is ripe for exploration, but the implementaion of such functionality makes my head hurt from a user-interface perspective! I think that getting the UI right is key to the success of such functionality.

Hi Howard
I registered my interest some time ago. I don’t know whether you have me on your list or not(?) I’m not sure if I should have expected an automated email to confirm receipt of my expression of interest, but I don’t seem to have received one.
Also I wonder what the latest is regarding supplies?
With thanks in anticipation of your reply
Jon

Hi Howard
Thanks for email saying I can order with the link – however when I use it
it goes to a webpage that says ‘out of stock’ and I can sign up to be on the list.
I replied to your email; but writing here just in case email is blocked
Thanks
John

Hi Howard,
some time ago I posted two times my interest for FCDPRO+ because I want two pieces, one for me I1PNI Sergio and one like a Cristmas gift for my son Marco IZ1PTA .
Can you give me an idea of the time I have to wait to receive FCDs?
Thanks Sergio.

There is a very simple reason that I do not offer Post Office services for international deliveries, and that is my own sanity! We used to offer exactly that service, however when the units went astray, once they are outside the UK there is no proper full direct tracking, and it is not possible to place a claim until over six weeks after failure to deliver, and then we have to wait a further three months for a response. The prescribed times advertised by the Post Office were frequently missed (it is not a time-definite service), and I was spending half my waking hours aimlessly chasing hundreds of dongles around the planet on behalf of customers. In that case, as this was not sustainable, I am afraid that we had no alternative to either employ someone to look after that side of things (in which case we’d have had to soak that up in an additional shipping charge which would have been a lot more than £1.52!) or provide an alternative solution.

By the way, I understand that FedEx don’t actually send it to the US and then back out again. My understanding they either go directly to Dublin or Knock, although I stand to be corrected on the exact FedEx locations.

Hi Howard, know you are a very busy man and don’t want to pull you
off your packaging and dispatch schedule but just wondered if you can
confirm I have made the waiting list and if there is any chance I may get
an FCD PRO+ before Christmas – I know I have not been on the list very long
and the chances are small but live in hope, hi.

Yes I do have your registration from 2 December. We are doing our best to go through the waiting list right now, but I can’t yet give you a guarantee that we will have stock for you before Christmas although we’ll be trying our best. If my assembler manages to keep up at their promised level we may well be OK.

I’m on the list as of 17 October 2012. I and many others no doubt are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to order our new toys.

Rather than look me (and dozens of others) to see where we stand, perhaps you could update us all periodically with a “Now taking orders for those on the list on ” message here? Just a thought..

At least the wait here is measured only in weeks. My other hobby is amateur astronomy and astrophotography. I was on a waiting list to order an Astro-Physics telescope for 7 or 8 years before my name came up.

Please follow this link to complete your purchase. Please also note that I am aware that Internet Explorer 8 doesn’t always work very well with the eCommerce software, so if you encounter difficulties with it please try either a newer version of Internet Explorer. or an alternative browser.

For information about shipping times and rates, please follow this link.

We’ll keep your FUNcube Dongle Pro+ reservation for the next seven days before releasing it to other customers.

Please note that this is an automated email and that the reply address is not monitored.

I just received my order link. Thank you for that. Just a question before ordering.
My company is a registered company in EU and all our purchases from the UK are with no VAT. Is it possible to enter my company’s VAT number and exclude VAT?

Hello, im from Argentina and i have problems to calcule the full cost of the pro dongle plus de shiping to my country, can you help me? i live in Cordoba, Argentina. Thanks and… sory for the bad english!

Sorry to bother you again but I am so excited for getting the FCDP+ in the next days.
As you suggested I am now a customer of your eCommerce system.
Can you please confirm that you pushed the right buttons so I can go on with my order now??

Dear sirs,
abaut four months ago I joined waiting list, waiting for the right time to place my order
for an FCD-plus+ receiver.
Till today I am always waiting for Your reply about.
Can You please inform me about last new about ?
Truly Your truly,
Paolo Cavallo (i8kch)

Just to let you know: FedEx has no way of reporting when it just puts a package in the regular mail. They could not deliver it on Saturday, as they have no service here. I also gave no street address as streets where I am don’t have names, and therefor, no street addresses. At any rate, I picked it up today (22 Jan) at the post office, FedEx having just mailed it.

Just a suggestion – regular mail is a lot cheaper, and where I am, just as fast – everything comes up on the same truck, no matter what company is sending it. And, small packages often don’t get the extra customs charges (about $20 in my case). So, offering that option to customers in exotic places might be a good service to have. Anyway, back to playing with my new toy!

You may be aware (it’s been discussed a few times here and in the talks I do), but when I used to use the postal service for international deliveries a couple of years ago, I was spending half my waking hours aimlessly chasing dongles around the planet.

The postal service is not time-definite, nor does it provide end-to-end tracking. To make a claim I had to wait six weeks from the expected delivery date to fill out a form, then wait for a further three months for a response, at which time I had to fill out yet another form. It’s a wonderful procedure designed to discourage anyone from claiming at all. Indeed, I used to just send another unit via FedEx at my expense when a unit didn’t appear after a couple of weeks. I am sure that as a result, there are folks who have received more than one FCD at my expense as a result.

Not only was this very time consuming and frustrating for both the customer and me, it was just not sustainable without employing someone just to deal with the logistics. This would cost far more than the additional $4 that I charge for the FedEx service. Judging from the regaining of my sanity since switching to FedEx, there is absolutely no doubt that the FedEx service is better overall! Indeed, I’m pretty sure that you would still be waiting now if it had gone via the standard postal service. It was not unusual for FCDs to be stuck in customs for weeks on end when using the postal service.

Anyway I hope this explains the reason I use FedEx. In the end it is actually less expensive than the post!

Feel free to try placing an order – if it says it’s in stock then I have units ready for immediate shipping. If not, you’ll be asked to add yourself to the waiting list and you’ll receive an email when we have availability.

Pretty much anything that will work with a soundcard SDR will work with the FCD and FCD+. I seriously recommend starting off with SDRSharp as it has a nice clean user interface. Once you’ve had success with SDRSharp, then feel free to use other software like SDRRadio and HDSDR, but there are many, many other compatible software programs that will work.

email me at g6lvb at amsat dot org and I will see what I can do for you. I am out this afternoon but will be around all day tomorrow (Friday) an I am expecting some units in tomorrow morning from the manufacturer.

I read from one of your replies that that you tested some units and ” Almost all of them (99%) go down to 410MHz, and about half to 400MHz , but that definitely seems to be temperature/warm-up dependent”. I want to order two FUNcube Dongle Pro+ that can go down to 400MHz. Is it possible that you can test the units for me and sell me those that can go down to 400MHz, even if it is due to temperature/warm-up dependent? Let me know before I place an order. And is there a way in which I can twik them to extend the frequency range down to 400MHz?

I can’t guarantee that a given unit will go down to 400MHz with the current batch of tuner chips we’re using. The work to test a selection of units down to 400MHz was both time consuming and labour intensive as we characterised each unit across a wide temperature range. In the end it simply wasn’t financially viable to offer these “special” units. In the end only about 15% of units with the old batch of tuner chips were good enough across the temperature range (0 to 70 Celsius). We do still guarantee all units down to 420MHz.

Incredible service! I ordered my Funcube Dongle Pro just a few days ago and it has already arrived! I have never had an international shipment arrive so quickly. I am anxious to get this device working. This is my first experience with SDR and I am particularly interested in receiving satellite telemetry. Any recommendations on software or techniques are appreciated. Thanks for such excellent service

Once you’ve been successful with this on terrestrial signals, give it a go on some of the amateur satellites. Having the waterfall display makes life very easy as you can see even weak signals, as they Doppler shift.

Hi Howard
I am thinking of buying a Funcube pro+ but am not sure if it has the sensitivity and dynamic range that I would like. I am interested in picking up PSK31 on the 20m band.

So far I have been trying with the RTL dongle with the Ham it Up up-converter but with no joy. I am using a 20m wire outside aerial.

The price of the Funcube is coming into the range of SDR radios like the Afedri etc so I would really like more specifications if they are available.

Even better, though, is there any chance of creating a online site for people to play with the Funcube. SDR-Radio has a facility to connect to a wide range of online receivers and this has been invaluable to me learning about SDR. I think it would help people to understand the capabilities better as well.

When developing the FCD+ I used an external vertical antenna and coverage of HF for me was fine using the default settings, however I can quite believe that with a serious antenna in a good location in good conditions, you might want to consider decreasing the front end gain.

Very high price, for a simple dongle with a gap between 240MHz and 420MHz and only reception. I prefer to wait a HackRF, so I have 30MHz / 6GHz without gap and I can also transmit. Maybe the price will be the same or something more.
Or with very low price is better to buy a tuner with Elan E4000, maybe the limit are equal, but the price is very different.

You only need to look inside the FCD+ to see that this isn’t an ordinary dongle. There are 250 parts in there, mostly around the front end filtering. One of the biggest problems of the E4000 is that the front end filtering is very low Q. You may not be aware but the E4000 chip has been unavailable for over a year now.

In addition the FCD+ has a TCXO, and covers LF, MF and HF. It also presents a full 16 bits of ADC resolution to the host. This means that CPU-hungry oversampling is not required.

The FCD+ was also designed to work directly with existing software across a number of operating systems.

While I understand that some may be interested in receiving things between 240 and 420MHz, this wasn’t a requirement for us when designing the FCD+, and neither was a transmit feature.

In short, the FCD+ gained a great deal from the heritage of the FCD, in particular we concentrated on front-end filtering and frequency accuracy and stability on the FCD+, that for real-world narrowband reception are exceptionally important. Adding HF was the icing on the cake for us.